by Kirby Lindsay, posted 24 August 2011
Fremont’s newest theater, West Of Lenin, officially opened in June 2011 and has already been used for staging unusual, underexposed and utterly unique theater experiences. Four performances scheduled between August 31st and September 3rd, may prove the theatre’s reputation for showing works on the creative cusp of the cutting edge.
Fremont will play host to J-Walt and his live animation performance Spontaneous Fantasia, including his newest show called ‘The Omnicentric Universe.’ Simply stated, “I get up on the stage, and I draw using technology that I developed,” J-Walt explained. The images he creates – live – transform into 3-D forms and landscapes, “and I fly through them.”
‘Scripted Improvisation’ Of The Universe
For audiences, “they’ll experience something that they’ve never seen before, and probably didn’t know was possible.” It is theater, and incorporates advanced technology. It is a concert, and visual. It is live, and that means anything could happen. “It’s a tightwire act, where any misstep might take me to a place I didn’t mean to go,” admitted J-Walt, “it’s a real big challenge, but a challenge that I embrace.”
He does script parts of the show – to keep him on track and headed in a particular direction – but it is ‘scripted improvisation’ with performances done, “on the fly,” to keep each show fresh. “I do try to keep the show very well-paced,” he explained. The pre-established structure allows him to “push beyond what is easy, and make a richer experience.”
Each performance also includes music, most of it composed by J-Walt. “Sometimes I use existing music, but most composers didn’t think about my shows when they wrote their pieces,” he joked. He also proudly offers the soundtrack for downloaded, for free, on the Spontaneous Fantasia website.
Inspiration Behind The Universe
“My show is really a lot of fun,” he stated. At each performance he draws a wholly unique world he, and the audience, explore. “One of my inspirations is the movie ‘Fantasia,’” he explained, “wave your arms, and realize this new world,” he mused, “watching things just come into existence. I think I’m a lot closer to the dream than I’ve ever seen anyone do before.” Movies can introduce audiences to worlds the stage cannot show them, and now J-Walt introduces audiences to worlds that movies – and video games – cannot, using technology he developed.
“I had this vision, and to express it in a coherent way,” he crafted the technology, mostly software, and learned how to use it to reveal his vision. “I wanted to create my own universe,” he described, and in ‘The Omnicentric Universe,’ he creates a whole solar system, and populates it.
“Looking at planets, one is tempted to say one is insignificant, but we aren’t. The things that are really important to me are close at hand.” Our daily lives of family, friends, jobs and obstacles aren’t universal, but local, tactile and of most concern to us. “That demonstrates to me that I’m at the center of the universe,” he observed, “but in that way you are at the center of the universe too.”
Although few of us will ever have the chance to literally draw it, “we make the world we live in,” J-Walt revealed of his explorations. “We do have the power to change it,” he said, “It’s really a kind of subversive idea.”
Spontaneous Fantasia: The Omnicentric Universe
The performances, which run approximately 70 minutes, can be accessed by all ages and, of course, kids may relate better to a world wholly of the imagination than their adults companions. “It’s intimate, but it’s a larger than life spectacle,” described J-Walt, “vast in scope.”
Based out of Los Angeles, J-Walt will tour around the world with ‘Spontaneous Fantasia’ with performances at theaters and planetariums from Anchorage to Amsterdam. To see the ‘Omnicentric Universe’ during its short Seattle run, purchase tickets for one (or a few) of the performances at 8p on August 31st, September 2nd or 3rd, or at 5p on September 3rd, through Brown Paper Tickets, for $15 – 18. Information on Spontaneous Fantasia can also be found on the website, but to truly understand the world – and the meaning of ‘omnicentric’ – attend a show and witness it firsthand.
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©2011 Kirby Lindsay. This column is protected by intellectual property laws, including U.S. copyright laws. Reproduction, adaptation or distribution without permission is prohibited.